Word for the Week

How's your hearing?

Week beginning: 11th November, 2018 | By Elsa Glauert | London

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"

Matthew 17:5 (NIV)

There are few experiences in life as frustrating as feeling like someone is not listening to you properly.

As lawyers we end up listening to a wide range of people for a wide range of reasons. We listen to clients to identify concerns and come up with relevant solutions. We listen to opponents to find cracks and flaws in their answers. We listen in a different way if we are being given instructions by our bosses or inviting suggestions from our colleagues. Our ears are very flexible.

And despite this flexibility, I wonder how often we stop to check how we are listening to Jesus? In this verse the command couldn't be clearer: "Listen to Him!" But before we reach the command, Jesus is declared to be God's Son; as the one whom God loves; and as the one with whom God is well pleased. These characteristics proclaim both the greatness of Jesus and his close proximity to the Father, and they give the command to 'Listen!' a whole new significance. Jesus is the one to whom we should be listening above all the other voices in this world that fight for our attention; and we should be listening not only to understand but to love and obey.

So as we go into this week, let us be encouraged to keep listening to Jesus – with the right sort of ears.

Prayer Points:

1. Pray that in our busy lives as lawyers we would be listening to Jesus above all of the many other voices that we hear every day.

2. Pray for students and younger lawyers just starting out in their careers, that they would get into good habits of putting Jesus before all else even in pressurised workplaces that try to distract them with the concerns of the world.